Method and means for wave measurement



Oct. 3, 1933. w. scHAFFER 1,923,755

METHOD AND MEANS FOR WAVE MEASUREMENT Filed Sept. 19, 1928 INVENTQR WA TER SCHAFFER BY dyad-[ma TTORNEY Patented Oct. 3, 1933 m'rnonann MEANS FOR WAVE MEASUREMENT Walter sauna, Berlin, Germany, assignor to :leleiunken Ge'sellschatt fiir Drahtlose Tele v 1 graphic m. b. --H., Berlin, Germany Application September 19, 1928, Seri al No.

306,907. andin Germany July so; 192': comm. (c1. arc-39) Mechanical oscillators such crystals are used in agreat number at waysland circuit arrangements for orme'asurmg the wavelength or frequency or tmuency 5 oscillations Quartz type 'avemeters ot the hind evolved by Giebe have, inter alia,proved very serviceable in In these wavemeter-s a crystalh confined msidea vacuous speeeoraspacefllledwiflirecregeseaandopposite the crystal electrodes are The crystal may be' connectedm'any suitable manner to the tnrnmitterwhose wave-length is 'tobe n the wave-length a as transmitter coin- .15 cides with the natural waye-l'cngthod a luminous phenomenon least up at the crystal by the actionof pieeo-elerm'lc iorces. 'lheidetermination or theme-lengthwiil be so much sharper the looser thec'ouplim with thetransquarts is fit is nevertheless a iact thatthe luminous occm-overacertain ji. e.',inside thepoints 'ot the resonance withln'which the ignition potential is Isis evident thfl? the width or the luminous action in dependence upon the detaining is so'rnuch' larger, the closer the coupling between the'qnartz resonatm' and the as is true, for example, 01' the case where two transmitters independently of eachother genosciilations, and where bothitrmsnutters 3 to beemployed i'or.equi-wave""telephnny.

, such accurate measurements it 113" that flie quartz crystals with v an unduly large amplitmaresubiectto'changes innatural wave-length on account 01 the .40 temperature fiuctuatms associated therewith.

It may, also extremely diflicult to :grindor polish a quartzcrystal so accurately that-iis natural wave-length turns out to be bfthe new value that is desired. The waste or scrap resulting J from an attemptto make, say, two'qnartz crystals 7 o! eimcfly me same wave-length is very large, indeed, it is hardly possible at all to grind them with such accuracy. Now, these three drawmay be "obviatedihymeuns of the" following arrangement: r

To measure a wave-length, two quartz crystalsinstead of only one crystalue used, said crystals being ground in such a manner that the desired wave is "located between than. Inch at! these 1 '5. gm Vcoupled'with the point of. branches is shifted. :One particular additional 75 minim to be measured in such a. way that .the desired wave happens-. to be located just at the intersection of the branchesof the two resonance curves-the coupling in this scheme being again chosen so close that both crystals will just not exhibit luminous phenomena in this condition; Under 'thesecircumstance s, the measuring accuracy =or-sharpness, fundamentally, is

of any possibly, -des ired degree of exactness. Since the; quartz crystals inthis particular state 1 oscillate only, with a relatively small amplitude,

the incidental temperature rise due to the oscillations is very small.

Finally, the accurate grinding of the crystals is then a minor consideration-inasmuch as inside' certain limits, correction of the measurement 3 is possible by coupling or ent the crystals more closely than the OthCl'QWith-th result that the intersection; of v the resonance-curve advantage-of this scheme is that whenever the, transmitter deviates from its: nominal "or rated wave-length; it possible to tell at once in which smse suchalterationmas taken plaeein other words, whether the wavept the transmitter has v grown or has decreased; namely,.-from the fact 7 that either the cheer the other of the two quartz wcrystals starts to luminesce. i transmitter whose wave iength is to bemeasured. 30 This involve's' a certain drawback-whenever "particularly exactmeasurements are tohe made,

So far as'the principlevunderlying this measuring scheme isconcerned .it is immaterial in 35 what way these quartz crystals have been formed, in other "words,v whether they work with a lumi- ,nous-action as in the Giebeedevice, or whether tance apart, andin which the nominal or rated wave-lengthis to be .llocated between the na.t

. ural waves of the two crystals. That is, two

crystals are utilized. having overlapping resonance curves. -The frequency at their intersec- --tion is the frequency tolbe dealt with, the two crystals being adapted to be alternately connected into circuit so that when the desired frequencyis -niaintained in an electrical circuit, the response 1 of either crystal placed into cooperation with 5 the aforementioned electrical circuit is the same,

In the accompanying drawing: a l V Fig. :1 showsone way in which a bridge circuit may be utilized for carrying out lmy invention;

Fig. 2 illustrates resonance curves of r the connectthe potential excitingthe mechanical v1; a d,

, instrument 9 by great clearn'ess;

crystals or mechanical oscillatorsshown U in Fig.

Fig. 3 illustrates another manner of carrying out my invention by the utilization of bridge circuits} In Fig. 1 recourse is had to' a bridge scheme wherein two arms of the bridge land 2 consist either one of two mechanical oscillato'rs 'or crystals A and B, the same being alternately comnected in the bridge bythe aidof the changeover switch 5.

agonal contains the detector 7,and in parallel thereto there is connected a,D"e'prez indicating way of radio i'requ'ency'choke two essential advantages. One advantage is that COilB. V V V That is, the instrument is efiectively across measured is efiectively coupled across another pair of conjugatepoints-oropposite; corners of the bridge. f' V The bridge arrangementis chosen so as to disreference to the 'exciting'potential," comes to act upon the'dete'ctor integrally.

The novel feature of I the i bridge scheme l'he' disclosed resides in the use of a pluralityythat' Iis', two mechanical oscillators or crystals, the

resonance curves of whichare illustratedin Fig. 2, the abscissae givingthe wave lengths and the ordinates the'pote'ntials (e)- that; arise. If the nominal or rated'wave is situated at the point of intersection of the two resonance curves which as "desired may --be' either wave length or: fre-' quency the' deflection of instrument .9 willbe the same regardless of. which one 0f the two crystals isconnected in arm- 4;by" the changeover switch 5. But even'afminute deviation of the rated wave'will cause the indication by instrument"9 of a larger or smaller 'value, if the switch 5 connects either one of the two crystals in'the bridge arm, according to whether the w'ave' to be measured deviatest-rom-the rated value in one'direction or the other. I I i The accuracyot measurement is extremely high, indeed, even with an "instrument of not very highsensitiveriess' it-is readily possible to read discrepancies creme-millionth or even less' with In order that the bridge arrangement may be "balanced in capacitive regard i'oreach'o'ne of the two crystals connectedin arm 4 by the aid of the condenser connected in arm 3, different methods may be applied. Either a condenser may be connected in parallel from the outset to'each of the two crystals in'such' a way that the capacity' 'to be compensated of each' of the crystals is of equal size, with due'regardf'tojtheconveniently large condenser connected in parallel or else" balanced 7 condition'may be realized by the aid of 'combina-.:'

v tions of seriesand'parallel capacities- 'It*fmay be desirable to shift the pointiof intersection o fthe' two resonance curves somewhat, an d'this is attainable-by making the coupling of'jeither'one oiv the two crystals more or less loose or close. Also -a cl'iok;e+coil.j1l-.f The change-over of the detecto'r system with instrument may be eifected by the aid of the switch 13 to either one of the two crystalsgf" The brige [arrangemen is-ex-, I

= -Thewbr idges A -and B are excited by coupling cited by means of the coupling coil 6.;Q'1he dianindicating de'vicealso coupledto'said bridge;

fquency is-to jbeameasured across conjugate points 1,928,765 a v n parallel-connection with the detector 10 there is again provided a suitable indicator such as a Deprezindicating instrument 12 in series with coils age which wave-lengtn'the. deflection of instrument 9 or 12 must "remain-thessame on changing over from C one oscillator to the other, regardless of What the absolute valuezmaybe. c

The otheradvantagewhich this arrangement offers compared withother wave-length measuring methodsrconsists in that, for. determining a;

.whetherthe ,existant waveactually is theratedor nominal wave ore-not, it is notnecessary to bring about a detuned state in order to pass through thearesonance curve. For it the measurements 'arei made only-.with:.a-- crystal or; with; a tuned a circuit, all that can .betold iswhether-the reschance point islpresentmamely, by that detuning is produced while. the behavior of: the measuring instrumentisskept under observation." 7 v 1 Contradistinctthereto, in thepresent methodQ-q and arrangementaallthat .is required is to'eiIect the change-over by. theagencyof switch 5 or 13,

respectivelyand it "is then possible to determine,

l without the necessity "of effecting-a detunedcondition, whether. thejrwa've-length or. frequency"- 'presentisequal to theratedwave or. frequency, and if not,,whe ther,it is greater or smaller.

I'lclaim'as my invention:

1.. A .pair' of bridge circuits,- a; resonator. inv an arm: 01- each bridge circuit, said resonatorshav-Q ing overlapping resonaneecurves, and means for connecting anindicating device alternately across 'eachbridgen:

r 5 5-32. A pair ofgbridge circuits, a piezo-electric resonator in an arm of each bridgecircuit, saidt" resonators having overlapping resonance, curves, and means for connecting ,an indicating device arms, meansii'or coupling a source whose frequency is tov bewmeasured' to said bridge, and,

for indicating .variations in frequency of said 7140 source;*, w f

4. Ana-arrangement forfrequency indication comprising in combination, a first-bridge circuit having two pairs ofv arms, a second bridge 45 circuit having. two i pairs-of; arms, a piezo-elec- 'tric. crystal frequency standard connected in one armofeachof said first and said'second bridge circuits,r1means :for. coupling ,a source 1 whose frein said bridge circuits, and means selectively to couple an indicating device across a pair of points in either of said bridge circuits whichvis concomprising, in combination,a bridge circuit having three arms serially connected, and a fourth arm comprising a plurality of piezo-electric crystals each having terminals, one terminal of each of said crystals being connected to one end of said seriesconnection, and a switch for selectively connecting one of the other terminals of one of said crystals to the other end of the series connection, means for coupling a source whose frequency is to be measured to said bridge, and an indicating device also coupled to said bridge for indicating variations in frequency of said source.

WALTER. sCHZiFFER. 

